Kangana Ranaut's recently released acting and directorial venture Manikarnika - The Queen Of Jhansi has become the latest victim of online piracy as illegal sites have opened gates to download the full movie or online streaming for free. The movie stars an ensemble cast of Kangana Ranaut as Rani Laxmibai (Manikarnika aka Manu), Atul Kulkarni as Tatya Tope, Jisshu Sengupta as Gangadhar Rao, Richard Keep as General Hugh Rose, Suresh Oberoi as Bajirao II, Danny Denzongpa as Ghulam Ghaus Khan, Vaibhav Tatwawaadi as Puran Singh, Ankita Lokhande as Jhalkaribai.
The notorious torrent site Tamilrockers have leaked Manikarnika full movie download links with from unofficial servers. The movie has taken a flying start at the box office. The full movie download is likely to hit the film's box office collection to a large extent.
Some of the pirated copies seems to have been shot from a handy camera with average print quality while some have made HD quality prints available.
Manikarnika has opened to mixed reviews from critics and audience alike. The movie has collected Rs 8.75 crore on the opening day because of the immense buzz and strong word of mouth.
However, this is not the first time a Bollywood movie has been hit by piracy. Earlier, movies like Uri - Teh Surgical Strike, Badhai Ho (Badhaai Ho), Thugs Of Hindustan (Thugs Of Hindostan), Zero, Race 3 and several other movies have also been leaked online which affected their overall box office performance at the domestic market.
Bollywood industry has been trying hard to stop the piracy of films for the past several decades. Some filmmakers and producers with the help of cybersecurity forces have managed to block sites that allow online users to download the latest Bollywood movies that get released almost every week.